It’s the first of October, the beginning of the month so it must be time to clean out the message center, get rid of scribbled notes and in general clean up September’s mess.
I received a couple of phone calls from the same Oxford resident wanting to share some love . . . not with me. No, that wouldn’t be right. This gal wanted to make sure I give some credit, where credit is due. She was very adamant that Oxford’s school board be given a big, ‘thumbs up? for doing away with ‘pay-to-play? for athletics.
Not only is pay-to-play off the school’s table, the district planned on reimbursing families who already paid for this school year. The district had charged $150 per student to participate in high school athletics and $90 per student to play middle school sports. Families with multiple kids in athletics were obviously hit in the pocketbook the hardest.
In past years the district instituted a ‘medical fee? (pay-to-play) to offset a shrinking budget. To his credit, when Dr. William Skilling accepted Oxford’s offer to be superintendent of schools, he figured pay-to-play needed to be tossed from the game. Also, to his credit he called the program, ‘pay-to-play,? not the spin-doctored, feel-good label ‘medical fee.?
Said he, ‘It’s a quarter of one percent of the revenue projected for this year.? That equals about $80,000. He added, the benefits of eliminating pay-to-play far outweighed the revenue it generated.
He and the board went one step, further. ‘We’re going to cut this and we’re not going back. That’s it. We’re done with pay-to-participate. And if we have to nip and tuck, it will be done in other areas.?
Oxford was on the fortunate end of the school funding stick. Last year, they budgeted for zero growth. This year they had just over 50 new kids enrolled — which means the district had $396,000 extra to work into their budget.
Ah, were I so lucky . . . hey, a man can dream, can’t he?
I believe Clarkston schools are projecting an increase in student population — and they have pay-to-play programs. Depending on the actually numbers they may want to give their families some sort of break, too. If they cannot eliminate the fee, it would be nice to reduce it. It would be nice if the local tax takers give their residents a break as the state government just hosed us with their late night dramatics — raising taxes.
Gee. What a shocker.
Not all area districts were lucky enough to experience higher students counts. Lake Orion, Brandon and Goodrich project student loses. Bummer, dude. Goodrich expects about a $100,000 less to work with, Lake Orion, about $150,000 in the negative. Brandon — gulp — has to figure out how to pay for the year with nearly $600,000 less.
I don’t know, but I predict if those districts do not have pay-to-play or ‘medical fees? for athletics, they soon will.
This all leads me to a thought. I am surprised school districts across the state are not advertising for more students. Districts can accept students from out of their geographic responsibilities. So, for example, were I Brandon, Lake Orion and Goodrich, I would advertise in local newspapers in the surrounding communities — like Oxford and Clarkston.
I wouldn’t do big ads, just a lot of little ones from the end of the school year until enrollment deadlines. My campaign message would be targeted towards parents.
‘Does your school district have too many students? What is the ratio of teachers to kids? In Brandon Schools, we have the room to give your kids the best education your tax dollars can buy. Come on up to Blackhawk country. We want you (but don’t forget to bring your sons and daughters)!?
Readers, your thoughts? Email Don Rush : dontrushmedon@charter.net.